I'm at Joe Allen's

13 Exeter Street, London WC2E 7DT

In continuation from last weeks post, this month’s #nationalburgermonth post comes from dining at Joe Allen. This underground hideaway is located in between some of London’s most infamous theatres and is well known for pre or post theatre dinner. With just a small sign poking out from the brickwork, Joe Allen ushers its diners into a 1950’s theatrical eatery, with pictures of well known actors, actresses and stage characters.

half chicken with lemon and rosemary,
with olive oil mash

FYI, this week, upcoming singer/songwriter Haila Jack joined me for dinner.

Dimly lit with the subtleties of 60’s jazz playing as an overture, we were warmly welcomed by what looked to be the manager of the restaurant.

Soon after being seated, we were presented with the menu, Haila stared at the menu for quite some time then said “I can’t lie, I have already gone through this menu online in great detail” LOL! And as I had! But you know when sometimes you just gotta act like you’re weighing up your options. In line with #nationalburgermonth, I had already decided on the shrimp and crab burger in brioche with fries. Once presenting this option to the waitress, she quickly informed me that the brioche is warm however the shrimp and crab are cold.

I hadn’t anticipated for this response so I was caught very off guard. After much deliberation, as nothing else had caught my attention in the same way, I ended up going for the half chicken with lemon and rosemary, with olive oil mash. Yes I know that’s not a burger, but you've got to be flexible right?

We did have starters and in all fairness, they did taste better than expected, but were nothing much to write home about. This may have been because I had been fasting all day so was absolutely ravenous!

The mains were bought over quickly afterwards. The portion was the smallest I’d been presented with since the debut of WOMLDN. Maybe because we can sometimes (cough) over indulge or just being Caribbean, our minds are conditioned to eating large portions but this really was minute. Flavour wise, it tasted exactly how it was advertised, simple favours, which actually can make a refreshing change. My chicken was presented with a steak knife as well which I appreciated; I like being given the proper cutlery for all elements of my meal.

There wasn’t anything on the dessert menu that really jumped out at us so we skipped that and headed out (for once).

I must say, the customer service here is excellent, service with a smile, and it didn’t seem like it was just because they knew we were coming, but everyone appeared to be receiving the same treatment. The restaurant was nearly full to capacity and geared more towards a more mature crowd, we were definitely the youngest in there by at least 15 years. 

Joe Allen has a romantic feel so could be ideal for for date night or as designed, pre or post theatre dinner. 

It's British/ American theatrical dining fusion makes them a contender.

VERDICT: SPITS/CHEWS :|

Overall WOM Rating: 3 out of 5 kisses